Samsung Galaxy S4 'less refined' than Apple's iPhone 5, not seen as a game changer

Though it was heavily hyped, Samsung's largely iterative Galaxy S4 flagship handset is not seen by market watchers as a device that will shake up the smartphone market or have a significant effect on Apple.

After months of anticipation, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S4 in a glitzy, heavily polished primetime event in New York City's Radio City Music Hall on Thursday. The company's new premium handset is its response to Apple's iPhone 5, which debuted last September.

To analyst Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets, the Galaxy S4 represents a refresh for Samsung, but the new handset is not a game changer. He expects Apple's anticipated "iPhone 5S" to "handily outsell" the Galaxy S4 when it launches later this year."One would believe that Samsung is crushing Apple in the mobile phone market. We believe this is complete nonsense." - Brian White, Topeka Capital Markets

In his view, one of the strong points of the new Galaxy S4 is its Super AMOLED display, which has a pixel density of 441 per inch. That's a higher resolution screen than the 326 pixels-per-inch found on the iPhone 5.

As for the rest of the Galaxy S4, White characterized it as "heavier, fatter and less refined than the iPhone 5." He noted that the iPhone 5 is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than its predecessor, the iPhone 4S, while Samsung only managed to trim 8 percent thickness and 2 percent of the weight from the Galaxy S III to the Galaxy S4.

In addition, White said the plastic casing on the Galaxy S4 is simply "no match" for the aluminum unibody enclosure Apple adopted on the iPhone 5.

"We are amazed by how analysts and the media have turned on Apple during the recent stock downdrafts with statements that Samsung is 'out-innovating' Apple," White said. "One would believe that Samsung is crushing Apple in the mobile phone market. We believe this is complete nonsense."

Also largely unimpressed by Samsung's latest offering was Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, who characterized the Galaxy S4 as an "evolutionary" update. He expects that Apple's iPhone will maintain its share of the high-end smartphone market in calendar year 2013.

Munster views the Galaxy S4 as comparable to Apple's own "S" models of the iPhone, such as the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4S. Both of those handsets were relatively minor hardware updates with the same design as their respective predecessors, the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 4.

"While the S4 is likely to be the iPhone's biggest competitor this year at the high-end of the market, we remain confident in our iPhone estimate for this year of 177.5 million, which includes a cheaper phone in the September quarter," Munster said. "We view the S4 as unlikely to meaningfully impact iPhone share of the high-end over the full year, but do expect it to take share from other Android phones."

The S4 is a phablet. It's more like an updated Note without the stylus... Oh well.

Nonsense... Even with a larger (441ppi) display and larger battery the Samsung Galaxy S4 is smaller/lighter than the Galaxy S3, therefore the GS4 IS a smartphone (with a larger display) just as the SG3 is/was, and most likely to be an even more successful one at that.

Yes, it's a shitty device, but you can bet it will put htc sony and motorola in huge trouble. Why? Marketing and Hype, the phone itself is second tier.

15 million per quarter for this ugly baby.

obs: it will also put apple shareholders in trouble when headlines about huge demand and Apple's doom hit the web, despite the fact that Apple will make billions and billions more than what it does now.

It's not revolutionary, and I do not except any revolutionary phones within the next year (flexible displays come to mind if any revolutionary new phones will be released)

Note : My next phone will be the HTC One

No, the s4 is just the same shit with a few more lines for spec whores that understand 0 about tech and what makes a fast phone, a good camera, a good screen, etc. Java can't compete with cocoa performance wise. Java or html5 apps can't compete with native iOS apps. It still is a slower and inferior device (than the iPhone), that also loses on pretty much everything to the xperia z, the awesome htc one, etc.

But fear nor more, DaHarder and other trolls will like your post, and more will come and join you.

you guys are polluting the internet... Every review favorable to Apple and detrimental to some competitor has the same trolls even if with different nicknames ready to attack, even at android authority.

The last revolutionary smartphone in the market was the iPhone announced in 2007. Every phone from them on has been evolutionary. The industry keeps looking for WOW!!! At the end of the day, however, these are simply phones.

In a fandroid dreamworld, Samsung out-innovates Apple again, fits a ridiculously high resolution display in the same phone size as its older flagship phone. With 8-cores to boot. Temple Run is smoother. Apple is Doomed. /s

What to do with such high dpi is just the android app developer's headache now. And seriously, who (or what app) really uses all those GHz and cores? Other than Android OS ofcourse. Food for thought, Specs fans.

I agree. S4 will continue to attract people that think bigger phone is better. An important number can be used to gauge whether S4 is a game changer by surveying S3 owners how many of them want to switch immediately to S4 like iPhone users do the switching from generation to generation. If the number is small then S4 is not a game changer. For one thing I have not seen any troll on AI that said he/she will jump to S4 from S3.

No, the s4 is just the same shit with a few more lines for spec whores that understand 0 about tech and what makes a fast phone, a good camera, a good screen, etc. Java can't compete with cocoa performance wise. Java or html5 apps can't compete with native iOS apps. It still is a slower and inferior device (than the iPhone), that also loses on pretty much everything to the xperia z, the awesome htc one, etc.

You're missing the point completely, never did I say the S4 is perfect, the best (android or overall) phone or anything else. I just said that you cannot call a device where every single element of it has been updated an 'iterative' update. Why you're turning this into a android vs ios discussion is also a riddle to me.

What to do with such high dpi is just the android app developer's headache now. And seriously, who (or what app) really uses all those GHz and cores? Other than Android OS ofcourse. Food for thought, Specs fans.

It's PenTile so when you remove 1/3 of the pixels to make it an even sub-pixel count it's on par with what Apple has been using in the iPhone since 2010. The difference is likely that the color accuracy is still way off which is something I'm not willing to trade away in a display simply so I can us half-truths to say my display has a higher PPI.

I agree. S4 will continue to attract people that think bigger phone is better. An important number can be used to gauge whether S4 is a game changer by surveying S3 owners how many of them want to switch immediately to S4 like iPhone users do the switching from generation to generation. If the number is small then S4 is not a game changer. For one thing I have not seen any troll on AI that said he/she will jump to S4 from S3.

That's an excellent point. Apple has repeat customers because they like Apple's fit and finish in every aspect of the device. Selling 'a' feature isn't how you get customers to care about your brand.

I personally think it's a good evolutionary step to the S III and I think they'll sell a lot of these but in no way do I think this evoke the same feeling that is felt from something as refined as an iPhone. It's like someone with a plastic digital calculator watch trying to say how it's better than your precision crafted watch. It's the argument of a child to say that PenTile pixel countare more important color accuracy or that a 13 Mpx camera is more important than the image sensor size.

No, the s4 is just the same shit with a few more lines for spec whores that understand 0 about tech and what makes a fast phone, a good camera, a good screen, etc. Java can't compete with cocoa performance wise. Java or html5 apps can't compete with native iOS apps. It still is a slower and inferior device (than the iPhone), that also loses on pretty much everything to the xperia z, the awesome htc one, etc.

But fear nor more, DaHarder and other trolls will like your post, and more will come and join you.

you guys are polluting the internet... Every review favorable to Apple and detrimental to some competitor has the same trolls even if with different nicknames ready to attack, even at android authority.

I don't have much experience with Android, but a guy at the bus stop had one and it looked like a nice one, but it sputtered when he was scrolling on FB. I've heard the Android phones can scroll too fast, but then sputter too. iOS is just smooth and stable.